BABOOM -- Newark emerging artists are featured in an August show at the Visual Arts Center of NJ, 68 Elm St., Summit. Their work celebrates the "Brick City," Newark.

SUMMIT -- On July 31, The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey opens "Brick City 07101." The show features six Newark emerging artists, and pulls from that city's flourishing art scene.

The exhibit runs through August. There will be a reception for the artists, 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. The event is free and open to the public.

Since the turn of the 20th century, Newark's bustling commercial trade and urban landscape have provided the backdrop and inspiration for artists. Among these, Henry Gasser, E. Stanley Turnbull and James Carlin, teachers at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts. The school influenced a next generation of artists, and further established Newark as a center of artistic production through the late 1990s.

"Brick City 07101" presents Newark artists working in drawing, installation, sculpture, mixed media and painting. Although their subject matter varies, each of the featured artists taps into the energies and influences of the Brick City, a name that derives from Newark's industrial roots.